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Brantford-Brant

CO detector program aimed at seniors

Jeff Balkwill (left), Brant County fire prevention officer, and John Gignac, of the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation, hold with a carbon monoxide detector in front of Brant County Fire Station No. 1 in Paris. They have teamed up on a new program to help keep seniors safe from CO poisoning by distributing and installing detectors in the homes of seniors. (Vincent Ball/The Expositor)

The Brant County fire department and the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation are touting a new program to help keep local seniors safe in their homes.

"We're visiting seniors in their homes and making sure their CO detectors and smoke alarms are working properly," Jeff Balkwill, Brant County fire prevention officer, said Friday. "If they don't have a CO detector we give them one and we'll install it as well.

"Seniors are among the most vulnerable people in our society when it comes to CO incidents or fire and we want do everything we can to keep them safe."

More than 700 CO detectors and 175 smoke alarms have been distributed to seniors living in their own homes across Brant County.

Led by John Gignac, a retired Brantford fire captain, the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation leads and supports initiatives aimed at raising the awareness of carbon monoxide poisoning. It was formed following the 2008 deaths of Oxford OPP Const. Laurie Hawkins, her husband Richard and their children, Jordan and Cassandra. The family died when the vent from their gas fireplace became clogged, forcing deadly carbon monoxide into their home. Hawkins was Gignac's niece.

Carbon monoxide is often called the silent killer because it is odourless, tasteless and colourless. It is created by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, including gasoline, oil, natural gas and wood.

Gignac began his CO awareness efforts in Brantford before taking his campaign across the province. He has travelled across Canada to raise CO awareness, distribute CO detectors and pressed for legislative changes to help keep people safe.

The Ontario Building Code now requires the installation of carbon monoxide detectors in homes and other residential buildings built after 2001.

Gignac is pleased to be working with the Brant County fire department to help keep seniors safe.

"This is an extension of what we've been doing across the country," Gignac said. "This is what we do, educate people and help save lives."